International Labour Solidarity Committee of the

30 December 2008

Iran: workers arrested amid rising protests over pay and layoffs

In the past few days Iran’s Islamic authorities have started a new wave of arrest and detention of worker activists.

On Saturday Ebrahim Madadi, deputy secretary of the Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was arrested by plain clothes men in the presence of the security forces. He is believed to have been taken to Tehran’s Evin Prison.

On 22 December, Bijan Amiri, member of the Co-ordinating Committee to form Workers’ Organisations and an employee of Iran Khodro car company, was detained by the plant’s security office (Herasat) and handed over to the security forces.

On the same evening, Mohsen Hakimi, who was visiting Mr Amiri’s residence, was arrested during a raid by the security forces. Mr Hakimi is a member of Iranian Writers’ Association and also a member of the Co-ordinating Committee to form Workers’ Organisations. According to Mr Hakimi’s lawyers and family, both men are being held in Ward 209 (the intelligence ministry’s interrogation quarter) of Evin Prison.

On 23 December, Bakhtiar Rahimi was arrested by security officers in the Kurdistan province and taken to an unknown location. Mr Rahimi spent some months in prison last year and was only recently released.

On 24 December, Pedram Nasrollahi, member of the Co-ordinating Committee to form Workers’ Organisations, was arrested during a raid on his home by the intelligence ministry officers. Some of his personal effects were also seized.

Meanwhile, according to Tehran bus workers’ union, members of the union’s management board have received phone calls asking them to contact the authorities, but they have said they would only respond to written summons, and no summons have been received. Six members of the union’s management board, namely Yaghoub Salimi, Saeed Torabian, Ata Babakhani, Ali Zadeh Hussein, Abbas Najand Kouhi and Davood Razavi, are currently under suspended sentences of from 6 to 14 months, while the union’s president Mansoor Osanlou has been in prison for one and a half years. Ebrahim Gohari, another board member, is awaiting a court verdict.

In another development, on 20 December, five members of the management board of the newly-formed Union of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers, namely Ali Nejati, Fereydoon Nikoofard, Ghorban Alipour, Jalil Ahmadi and Mohammad Heydari Mehr, appeared in court in the city of Dezfoul, but no verdicts have yet been issued.

The arrests and intimidations come amidst widespread protests and strikes across the country over unpaid wages, layoffs and plant closures. In the mean time, several workers’ organisations, including the Free Union of Workers in Iran, Union of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company and Union of Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers, have initiated a national pay campaign, which is attracting increasing attention among workers around the country (more on this on www.kargaran.org).

In an interview with Rooz website yesterday, Saeed Torabian, Public Relations Officer of Tehran bus workers’ union, said:

“These pressures have not started today or yesterday. From the moment workers have become aware of their rights, regarded independent workers’ organisations and genuine representatives as their certain right and started uniting, such pressures have increased. At the same time, due to grievances such as low pay, fall in workers’ purchasing power, rent rises and arbitrary firings, we have witnessed numerous protests across the country and the turning of large numbers of workers towards independent workers’ organisations. This too has led to worker activists coming under increased pressure. However, fortunately, these incidents have not had any impact on workers and worker activists, and until they get their rights, they will not back down an inch”.

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Please send letters of protest to the ministries of the Islamic Republic of Iran, calling for the release of all those arrested and an end to persecution of workers:

Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei

Office of the Supreme Leader

Islamic Republic Street

Shahid Keshvar Doust Street

Tehran, Iran

Email: info@leader.ir   

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

The Presidency

Palestine Avenue,

Azerbaijan Intersection

Tehran, Iran

Email: dr-ahmadinejad@president.ir

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur St.,Vali Asr Ave.,

South of Serah-e Jomhouri,

Tehran, Iran

www.kargaran.org     www.rowzane.com     www.newchannel.tv

 International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran

Head office:

Co-ordinator: Shahla Daneshfar shahla_daneshfar@yahoo.com

Public Relations: Bahram Soroush bahram.soroush@gmail.com

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